How I Got Into This

[levad]

I cycled to school every day about 25 years ago, 2.5 miles each way. I got back into cycling briefly when I was asked to do the Coast 2 Coast from Whitehaven to Tynemouth in October 2006. To train for this I started commuting 2 or 3 days a week to work, 13 miles each with 4 valleys to cross (down and then back up, no bridges!). I stopped after the C2C ride (where I didn't get off and walk at all). This September petrol prices persuaded me to cycle to and from work again. I allow 1.5 hours for the ride and then the showering and changing, the ride itself is now taking between 55 and 60 minutes. I have been bitten by the bug!

 

[Mortiroloboy]

OTH...Welcome to the dark side, there is no escape for you now.
<insert manic Dr Evil laugh here>, there is a fairly local shop to you in sunny
Basing St Oke, just off Of Roman Way, Winklebury cycles, check yellowpages or Google for more info.

May see you on Watership Down/ White Hill, plenty of really good rides around this neck of the woods.

Have you considered joining the North Hants CC? or Newbury RC?

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Wecome Levad and well bitten ! To me that is a serious commute !

 

[Cathryn]

I've always had a bike, spent my childhood on 'Speedy', a police-pound rescue bike, then spent my teenage years on a fab pink and silver number with racing handlebars that my Dad built for me. I then had a lull whilst I was a student then made the BIG mistake of going on a cycling trip through Austria's gorgeous mountains about five years ago, and I was hooked.

I splashed out on a decent Dawes Hybrid (George) the week before I bought my first flat (potentially financially unwise but the best decision ever) and then my cycling world was turned on its head this summer when I bought Liesl, my gorgeous Thorn tourer, who has absolutely rocked. Your description of your imaginary bike is pretty much how I feel about Liesl

That's it...I'm an addict!!

 

[ChrisW]

I decided that if I was ever going to change my life it was now or never

BTFB, iT'S "Now or Never" so do you play old Elvis songs?

I must check back through your old posts and see if there is a song lyric in everyone, except the Led Zep one of course.

 

[surfgurl]

This time last year my car caught fire in a petrol leak. It freaked me out quite a bit and we couldn't afford to keep running a second car. We live in the country so the bus to work is pricey and doesn't run at the times I need.
I saw an article with Richard Hammond out on a bike, this was about six weeks after his infamous accident. I thought if he can be helping his recovery by cycling, I can cycle a 10 mile round commute five days a week.
I bought a cheap bike (catalogue special) which I am still using to commute on. I'm now itching to buy a better bike!

 

[Tynan]

As to weight loss how do you do it? I have creaky (old mans) knees and want to get some weight off me. Belly is going but legs growing just as fast. They were like two bits of string with knots in but now are getting chunky (steady girls) but I still weigh the same
Thanks

You might be making a common noob mistake and be pedallign too hard in too low a gear, that builds big legs and puts undue strain on knees and legs in general

get used to spinning faster in a lower gear, once you get used to it, you should find that you go faster, better acceleration and importantly you get slimmer but fitter legs, and much better for your knee etc

I've made the change this year after a life of grinding around and it's a no brainer, I wish someone had told me 20 years ago

 

[Daniel B]

So is my Felt F85 OK as a general hack?

Great story OTH, very inspirational :-)

I too have recently got back into cycling, and also purchased a second hand Felt, so may I commend you for your shrewd choice of bike

I'm sure it will do you proud if you look after it, and fettle it as required.

The previous owner of mine had fitted a carbon seatpost, and I have further tweaked it by fitting narrower bars and bar tape, wireless cycle computer etc

What groupset does your Felt have?

Cheers

Dan

 

[Arch]

I saw an article with Richard Hammond out on a bike, this was about six weeks after his infamous accident. I thought if he can be helping his recovery by cycling, I can cycle a 10 mile round commute five days a week.

Excellent! "Top Gear Presenter Inspires Cyclist"

Mind you, if I thought the end result was getting Richard Hammond, I'd happily cycle over the Alps!

Nice to see a couple of new folk here. Biggash, there's a chap called magnatom on here, hangs out in Communting a lot, who's done something to address the issue of glasgow buses

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=5075

Press release on page three of the thread explains it...

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=5075&page=3

- will be interesting to see if it makes a difference...

As ever, I'd recommend a copy of Cyclecraft to all new riders...

 

[cyclebum]

I woke up at 7am one Sunday morning after a big night out (surpisingly no hangover!) hubby snoring away besides me (hungover!). Suddenly I got it into my head to go and dig my daughter's bike out of the garage and go for a ride. I can't tell you where the inspiration came from as I have no idea. I went onto the canal at the bottom of our road then dropped down onto a disused railway. It was a beautiful June morning and I was soon buzzing. I now know I did an amazing 5 miles and it took me about an hour but I was hooked. once home I got off the bike and my legs just went from under me and I practically crawled up the stairs and spent the next hour in the bath. Despite this I was out later that afternoon buying a helmet and the next morning I was out again. Same route and same conclusion so this time I was off to buy some padded shorts and the next day I was out again. This was 2005 and I continued through the rest of the year.
But in 2006 I was first ill and then concentrated on a makeover for the house so a year had gone by when I got back on my bike this March. Since then I have truly become hooked and mostly thanks to this site and the great advice given here (and dare I say my local Halfords manager )I am way past my meagre early beginings.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

Five years ago I sprained a knee ligament badly while skiing. As I was skiing again in 8 weeks time, I subjected myself to some pretty rigorous physio using the exercise bikes at the gym, which I found particularly good for getting movement back into the knee. Although I was able to ski, I couldn't go back to playing badminton and I bought a mountain bike from the LBS. It came with a free service at 500 miles and the shop offered me a road bike on loan for a week, correctly working out that I'd be smitten. So, I ended up with a road bike upon which I've just done over 10,000 miles mainly commuting between Llangollen and Chirk.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I used to do a fair bit of cycling in my early twenties, both to commute and for the sheer pleasure. In those days I had a number of different road bikes like Dawes and a superb Coventry Eagle that some scumbag relieved me of by breaking into my garden shed. I subsequently bought another Dawes for commuting which I used until about ten years ago when I put it away in the shed and forgot about it.

Early last year, and now in my fifties, my wife and I decided we needed something other than the car for getting to the local pub so we resurrected the old faithful Dawes and a Raleigh my wife had bought some fifteen years before. Amazingly, after living in a damp shed all that time, they were not too bad and we cycled to and from the boozer a few times and began to enjoy the rides more than the pub. I happened to be near a big bike shop some months later and rashly test rode a modern hybrid. Wowwww! what a difference. I couldn't believe how far the ride quality and ease of riding had come and bought the it. After a few more rides, my wife decided to take the plunge and bought her own hybrid and we set about several trails and local roads. The bug had bitten.

Earlier this year I bit the bullet and bought a road bike. I am now in thrall to the wonders of modern bike technology. I can't keep off the thing and the journey to the pub is nowhere near sufficient to satisfy the craving. In my senior years I know my limits and I'm never going to be a century rider, but I don't think forty miles in a day too bad. Not only that, but after a few rides like that, I'm still fresh the next day and a good few pounds lighter. Wish I had kept up the cycling instead of succumbing to the infernal combustion engine!

 

[Arch]

A bit like cyclebum, I got into cycling through a random idea that came to me out of nowhere, although in a more roundabout route. My big idea, 8 years ago now, was to come to university as a full time student to study archaeology. I was in a crap job and it just came to me one day that it was what I wanted to do. I'd used a bike to get to work for a while, although I'd never have thought of myself as 'a cyclist'. I brought it with me to York, because, well, all students have bikes, don't they, and on the first day met Tom in our shared Uni flat. The bike remained unused for a term, because it was stored in an upstairs lobby and York's small enough to walk around. After one term Tom, I and another lady moved out of the flat, thanks to the louts and oddballs we were sharing with, into a Uni house, and I had easy access to the bike again. Tom, who'd been riding his Dawes Galaxy over Cotswold hills for years, and had an instinctive understanding of anything mechanical, cast a knowledgable eye over my old bike, tweaked a few things to make it fit and suit me better, and I found out that it didn't have to be a struggle to ride. And from Tom I started to learn about the amazing variety of bikes that there are out there. When he decided to drop the course and got a job with Jim McGurn at Company of Cyclists, I was introduced to a wider cycling world, and the bug really bit. Within a year, I was working on try out roadshows too, and touring on my Uni-bike-auction-bargain Galaxy. Now I have a winter hack (my beloved Mithras, the bike I came to uni with, was nicked about 4 years ago.) a Giant FCR for summer, the Galaxy, in bits awaiting a respray, and a Trice recumbent trike.

Since I started the Phd, and stopped working for CoC, and moved to a flat 5 minutes from work I've realised I sometimes talk about cycling more than I actually do it, which is going to have to change. I do go on cycling holidays, and use my bike as my main means of transport about town, but I need to start doing a few more weekend miles. I'm a pootler and a tourer, not a racer.

I lost Tom in April, but through him and this forum I've come to know enough great folk to keep me on my bike(s).

Rats. I'm crying again. Ignore me. I have to ride up to campus in a bit, that'll blow the cobwebs away.

 

[John Ponting]

Rats. I'm crying again. Ignore me. I have to ride up to campus in a bit, that'll blow the cobwebs away.

What an interesting and varied background you have. btw I thought I was the only one who starts blubbing at the moment. I've just booked a week off work from 19th to try to 'get away from it all'.

 

[Arch]

What an interesting and varied background you have. btw I thought I was the only one who starts blubbing at the moment. I've just booked a week off work from 19th to try to 'get away from it all'.

I know what you mean, I hope the week off helps.

Well, I had a nice ride up to capmpus and back, feel I've now earned last night's curry (and the leftovers I'm about to have for lunch).

When I look back I guess I do have a pretty varied background. The down side being I'm still not quite sure what I want to do 'when I grow up'. And at 38, you'd think I would...